Thursday, 1 January 2015

Lava blisters

It looked very different 8000 years ago. The local Aboriginals would have seen the lava slowly filling the valleys and spreading over the landscape in waves through several decades of eruption.

We now call the volcano Mt Napier (more about that in the next blog) but I went to see the blisters, the tumuli, that form on the surface of a lava flow when gases build up beneath the surface. The dome roof collapses and the sides remain. The blisters (on private property along Old Crusher Road) are excellent examples apparently and much bigger than I expected..

There are no information boards at the site but at the Harman's Valley site nearby there are several that explain everything very well. The tumuli site is not far off the main road but the signposts do not entice the tourists so it can be very easily go unnoticed.